2 Fox Focus | Research
This Investor Is
Spurring Scientists
to Race for a
Game-changing
Parkinson's
Research Tool
In September, The Michael J. Fox Foundation
(MJFF) launched the “Ken Griffin Alpha-
synuclein Imaging Competition.” This
$10-million program, funded in part by a
leadership gift of $7.5 million from Ken
Griffin — founder and CEO of the Chicago-
based global investment firm Citadel —
holds potential to transform Parkinson’s
drug development.
Griffin is a dedicated philanthropist, supporting
organizations committed to furthering
education, civic engagement and the arts, and
health. In his philanthropy, as in business, he
embraces calculated risk to create value. “I've
often thought of successful entrepreneurs as
individuals who have just the right expertise
— at just the right moment — to solve the
emerging problems of their time,” he says.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CITADEL
Announced through a Fortune news story, Ken
is now partnering with MJFF to bring this
philosophy to the pursuit of a vital Parkinson’s
research tool: an imaging tracer to visualize the
key protein alpha-synuclein in the living brain.
Nearly everyone with Parkinson’s has clumps
of the alpha-synuclein protein in the brain.
Scientists believe this clumping harms cells
and results in symptoms of Parkinson’s.
To this day, these clumps are visible only
through post-mortem tissue analysis. This is a
foremost challenge in diagnosing the disease
and monitoring its progression. The ability to
visualize alpha-synuclein in the living brain
would open entirely new avenues in research
and care. (A similar tool to image beta-amyloid
has been a game-changer in Alzheimer’s
research over the past several years.)